Meditation Sickness Changing Perspectives of Meditation
Elliot Beatty Williams
Libraries and Cultural Resources September 9, 2026 DOI: 10.11575/prism/51980 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key points | Argues that the popular conception of meditation as a purely benign, risk-free practice does not hold up against historical Buddhist accounts and contemporary research documenting meditation sickness, and that uncritical endorsement of meditation in secular spaces can harm practitioners who are not informed of its risks. |
Abstract
This thesis examines the phenomena of meditation sickness as it is presented from historical Buddhist accounts through to contemporary research. I argue that the popular conception of meditation as a purely benign practice does not hold up to the evidence of meditation sickness. This thesis aims to combine historical documentation of Buddhist accounts of meditation sickness with the contemporary research in neuroscience and psychology to challenge the popular conception of meditation as a risk free practice. To accomplish this, my thesis first examines three Buddhist texts: ´S¯ura ˙ngama S¯utra, the Mahamudra Manual, and the Itsumadegusa, which each document instances where meditation has harmed practitioners. After which I examine the findings of contemporary research into meditation sickness and how that relates to the historical documentation found in Buddhist sources. Lastly this thesis looks into the contributing factors that have allowed for uncritical endorsement of meditation into secular spaces. This thesis topic is important for challenging cultural assumptions that can inadvertently harm those who practice meditation without proper informed consent of the risks of meditation.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness: A proposed operational definition. | 2004 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mechanisms of mindfulness | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for depression | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART): a framework for understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |